Steen said:
When you list with GreatDomains (or afternic showcase and a few others for that matter) you are required (via terms/contract) to use GreatDomains as a broker (I believe the contract is 6 months).
So if you get a $1m offer via Whois, you still have to go through GreatDomains...
Afternic's User Agreement keeps changing and changing...and it's getting very restrictive in some regards...see
http://www.afternic.com/agreement.php excerpt below:
"For any domain name registration or web site sale that occurs between you and another member after being introduced through this site less than six months prior to the sale, you agree to pay a sales fee to Company. The current sales fee amount is posted on company's website. Such introductions include any communication facilitated by the site's listings, offers, messages to members, and our forum site, DiscussNames.com except domains that are sold using Afternic Bazaar auction. The sales fee will be paid by the seller, and guaranteed by the buyer. The fee must be received by Company from seller within 30 days of the sale. If Company does not receive such payment within 30 days of the sale, the buyer member agrees pay Company the brokerage fee within 30 days of receiving notice from Company that the seller did not pay the fee within the first 30 days."
The bulk of above section didn't exist and there was no explicit commitment on sales venue, then it was a 30 day commitment, and now it's a 6 month comment...still some big loopholes in there, but bet those holes won't be in there for much longer as competition picks up.
Many folks with expensive high-end listings on Afternic could potentially find bill collectors coming after them for 10% of the sale price if they choose to sell the listed domains at Sedo or some other venue instead.
For me, Afternic is a great sales venue for low- to mid-value domains, but for high-value domains, the "lock-in" factor is a problem I can't ignore and thus refrain from listing much there anymore.
Ron